Carrier bag and handle and closure means therefor



Aug. 25, 1970 s, KAMINS ETAL CARRIER BAG AND HANDLE AND CLOSURE MEANSTHEREFOR Filed Sept. 23, 1968 INVENTORS Seymour Komins Norman RosenbergATTORNEY United States Patent Oflice 3,525,468 Patented Aug. 25, 19703,525,468 CARRIER BAG AND HANDLE AND CLOSURE MEANS THEREFOR SeymourKamins, Oceanside, and Norman Rosenberg,

Bayside, N.Y., assignors to CTP Industries Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., acorporation of New York Filed Sept. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 761,481 Int. Cl.B6511 31/00, 33/06; A45c 13/26 US. Cl. 229-54 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A carrier bag having bag walls of a thin-film plasticmaterial, with one of the bag walls having a fold-over flap at the mouthof the bag. A supporting means comprising a longitudinal sealing stripis secured to the inside of the bag wall along the edge which does notbear the overhanging flap. The flap has a slit through which a handle orbook portion of the supporting means may be inserted when the flap isfolded over onto the other bag wall.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Various types of bags made of thermoplasticmaterial are known in the art. Many such prior art bags include acombination carrying and closure means for the bag which makes itpossible to provide a tight closure thereof, so that its contents cannotreadily be lost, nor can dirt or moisture readily enter the bag.

It is also well-known in the art to rovide bags whose main body portionis formed of a thin-film of thermoplastic material, such as the morecommon vinyl or polyethylene plastics. The prior art further teaches theuse of a combination carrying and closure means for such a thin-filmplastic bag, which is heat-sealed or cemented, or otherwise fastened tothis thin film. It is also common to fabricate the carrying and closuremeans from thermoplastic material having a substantially heavier gaugethan that of the thin film used for the main portion of the bag, sincethis provides greater strength and provides a desirable rigidity to themouth of the bag, thereby making it more convenient to open the bag, andto maintain it open for obtaining access to the bags interior.

In addition to the foregoing, it is also known in the art to provide acombination carrying and closure means which consists essentially of twogenerally congruent strips of a semi-rigid material, such as aheavy-gauge plastic, which are heat-welded or heat-sealed to the mouthof the bag. To open the bag, it is then only necessary to grasp the twohandle portions with ones right and left hands respectively, andseparate the two handle portions. Quite often, a securing or lockingmeans is employed, which tends to hold the two oppositely disposedhandle portions together, thereby elfectively maintaining a tightclosure of the mouth of the bag. In its most practical form, such afastening means may comprise frictionally engaging studs and recesses asshown, for example, in the patent to Laguerre No. 3,140,038.

Carrier bags of the type disclosed in the above-mentioned Laguerrepatent have achieved great commerical success throughout the world.Reusable carrier bags have previously been known, but have generallybeen of rather substantial cost, thereby making them unattractive foruse by a merchandiser, because of the competitive disadvantage whichresults from attempting to market goods in packaging of high cost. Atthe same time, inexpensive packaging materials, and particularly plasticbags, have not been indefinitely reusable. Thus, the combination of lowcost with reusability in a closable carrier bag capable of beingattractively decorated with advertising or the like has resulted inoutstanding commercial success of the type bags just described.

There is, of course, a strong economic incentive to provide bags withall of the desirable attributes of the handle bags described above, butwith reduced cost of manufacture, if possible. Thus, bags of the typejust described employ overlying handle members which may be formedseparately, or may be formed in one piece, as disclosed, for example, inLaguerre Pat. No. 3,310,224, issued Mar. 27, 1967. Efforts have beenmade to provide bags with only a single handle member, thereby resultingin economy of handle cost, and one such type of construction isdisclosed, for example, in Teweles Pat. No. 3,128,035. However, theTeweles type bag is not a reusable bag, since the single handle memberis heat-sealed to both of the bag walls at the mouth of the bag so thatopening of the bag involves tearing of the handle away from the bagwalls, thereby rendering the bag unusable thereafter as a carrier bag.It is, therefore, desirable to provide a bag construction which requiresthe use of only a single handle member, but results in a reusable,closable handle bag, and one in which the opening is capable of beingcompletely closed, so as to prevent the entry of dirt and moisture. Itis also desirable to provide such a construction in which the bag canreadily be opened and closed many times without damage thereto.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The improved bag of the present inventioncomprises bag walls of a thin-film, heat-sealable plastic material, acarrying means for the bag which comprises an elongate sealing stripwith centrally disposed hanger or hook portions extending laterallytherefrom. At the mouth of the bag, one side wall extends upwardly abovethe other side wall, so as to form a fold-over flap which is capable ofclosing the mouth of the bag and preventing the entry of dirt ormoisture. The sealing strip of the handle or hook means is heat-sealedor otherwise secured to the inside of the bag wall, but only along theshorter side not having the fold-over flap. The opposing bag wall has alongitudinal slit formed therein which is capable of receiving thehandle or hook portion which extends laterally from the sealing strip.Thus, to close the bag month, one need only fold over the flap, at thesame time inserting the handle or hook portion through the longitudinalslit, so that it will extend exterior of the flap when the flap isclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In describing the invention, referencewill be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention showingthe flap in the folded-over position;

FIG. 2 is a view of the bag of FIG. 1, but showing the flap in theposition in which it is not folded over, so that the bag mouth is open;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the section line 3-3 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the section line 44 of FIG.2;

FIG. 5 is a view of a modified form of the invention employing a hookrather than a handle;

FIG. 6 is a view of another modified form of the invention showing atwo-part handle; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 6 taken alongthe section line 7-7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 illustrates the preferredembodiment of the invention which comprises thin-film, heat sealableplastic bag walls 10 and 11, with the rear bag wall 10 extending beyondthe edge 11' of the front bag wall 11 so as to form a fold-over flap 12,as particularly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Secured to the inside edge ofthe front bag wall 11 is a single handle member 13 which is formed of alongitudinal sealing strip 14 and a laterally extending, generallyU-shaped handle portion 15. Preferably, the longitudinal sealing stripportion 14 extends over substantially the entire length of the bagmouth, but it will be understood that the sealing strip may be shorterthan this if desired.

Formed in the opposed bag wall 10, preferably at about the location ofthe bag mouth, is a longitudinal slit 16 shown particularly in FIGS. 2and 4. This slit may be formed by a simple cutting operation and mayhave a length substantially equal to that of the laterally extendinghandle portion 15.

As clearly shown in both FIGS. 1 and 3, the bag mouth is readily closedby inserting the handle portion through the slit 16, thereby enablingthe flap 12 to be folded over onto the shorter bag wall 11. As a result,the handle portion 15 can readily be gripped by one carrying the bag,and at the same time the bag mouth is securely closed, since both bagwalls are now effectively supported by the carrying means 13. By reasonof the flap 12, moisture or dirt or the like cannot enter the closed bagmouth.

Since a thin film of plastic such as polyethylene will readily tearfurther along an existing tear line, it is desirable to provide a meansfor resisting this tendency along the longitudinal slit 16. This isreadily accomplished by momentarily placing a heating tool adjacent eachend of the slit 16, i.e. at 17 and 18, and with the heating tool beingsufiiciently hot as to be at least slightly above the meltingtemperature of the thin-film material. As a result, the bag wallmaterial is slightly deformed at these regions, and it has been foundthat this greatly reduces the tendency of tearing at these locations.

FIG. 5 illustrates a modification of the invention wherein the carryingmeans comprises a hook 19 in place of the handle 13 of FIGS. 14. As withthe above-described embodiment, however, the hook 19 is again preferablyformed integrally with a sealing strip portion 20 which is againheat-sealed to the front bag wall, i.e. the wall which does not have theoverhanging flap 21. The embodiment of FIG. 5 is, thus, particularlysuited for use when the bags are to be displayed from rods or storedisplay fixtures or the like. It will be noted that in this embodimentthe sealing strip portion 20 has a length which is less than the widthof the bag mouth.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a still different embodiment of the inventionin which a handle and carrying means is employed having two overlyinghandle portions 22 and 23. This handle construction is, thus, similar tothat disclosed in the above-mentioned Laguerre Pat. No. 3,310,224.However, in contrast to the teaching of such Laguerre patent, the twohandle portions 22 and 23 of FIG. 6 are not both secured to the bagwalls, but only the longitudinal sealing strip 23 is heat-sealed to theshorter, front bag wall. A longitudinal slit is again provided, and thelaterally extending handle portions of both the handle portions 22 and23 can readily be inserted through the slit and with the flap 24- againfolded over, as with the previously described embodiments. It will benoted that the two handle portions 22 and 23 are integrally joined attheir end portions, so that upon opening of the bag mouth, after theflap 24 has been folded 4 back, any tendency to tear the bag walls atthe sides of the bag is resisted upon opening of the bag by separationof the handle portions 22 and 23 by reason of the fact that all of thestress is borne by the handle portions 22 and 23 at their integrallyjoined ends. It is, of course, not necessary that the two portions 22and 23 be so joined at their respective ends.

What we claim is:

'1. A reusable carrier bag comprising in combination. front and back bagwalls joined at sides and bottom and open at the top, one of said wallsextending beyond the other at the top to form a flap adapted to befolded over onto the other bag wall to close the mouth of the bag,supporting means for said bag comprising at least one elongate sealingstrip portion and a laterally extending portion adapted for supportingsaid bag, said strip portion being heat-sealed only to the inner surfaceof said other bag wall, and an elongate slit in said one Wall having alength at least equalling that of said laterally extending portion ofsaid carrying means when said flap is folded over to close the mouth ofthe bag with said laterally extending portion protruding through saidslit.

2. The carrier bag of claim 1 in which said laterally extending portionof said supporting means is of generally inverted U-shape whose legs areintegrally formed with said longitudinal sealing portion inwardly of theends thereof.

3. The carrier bag of claim 1 in which said laterally extending portionof said supporting means is in the form of a hook.

4. The carrier bag of claim 1 in which said sealing strip portion has alength substantially equalling that of the mouth of said bag.

5. The carrier bag of claim 1 in which said sealing strip portion has alength less than that of the mouth of the bag.

6. The carrier bag of claim 1 in which said carrying means comprises twooverlying members each comprising a sealing strip portion and alaterally extending portion, said two members being coextensive whenplaced in juxtaposition, only one of said overlying members having oneside of its elongate sealing strip portion secured to said inner surfaceof said other body wall.

7. The carrier bag of claim 6 in which said two overlying portions ofsaid carrying means are integrally joined at the ends of the respectiveelongate strip portions.

8. The carrier bag of claim 1 in which the ends of said elongate slitare deformed as by heating to a temperature above the melting point ofthe thermoplastic material of which the bag walls are formed to preventtearing of said bag walls adjacent the ends of said slit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,140,038 7/1964 Laguerre 229--543,310,224 3/ 1967 Laguerre 229--54 3,372,857 3/1968 Brayla 229-533,348,761 10/196'7 Vetter 22954 3,429,498- 2/ 1969 Dorfman 12 DAVID M.BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 150-12

